Colts' Robert Mathis Brady's worst nightmare

Wednesday

Jan 8, 2014 at 6:00 AMJan 9, 2014 at 12:56 AM

FOXBORO — The Colts list Robert Mathis' position as "rush" in their game logs. And with good reason. The 11th-year pro led the NFL with a career-high and franchise-record 19½ sacks this season, earning him a trip to his sixth straight Pro Bowl. That lifted his career total to 111, which ranks fifth among active players and 20th all-time.

By Rich Garven TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

FOXBORO — The Colts list Robert Mathis' position as "rush" in their game logs. And with good reason.

The 11th-year pro led the NFL with a career-high and franchise-record 19½ sacks this season, earning him a trip to his sixth straight Pro Bowl. That lifted his career total to 111, which ranks fifth among active players and 20th all-time.

"He's a great player and he's been a great player for a long time," quarterback Tom Brady said of Mathis, whom he hopes to avoid any facemask-to-facemask meetings with when the Patriots host the Colts in an AFC divisional round playoff game Saturday night.

"We've played these guys a bunch over the years. We kind of know what we're up against. He's having one of the best years of his career."

Mathis has five career sacks versus the Patriots, the most of any team he has faced outside the AFC South.

The 6-foot-2, 246-pound Mathis continued his pocket-disrupting ways in the Colts' 45-44 win over the Chiefs on wild-card weekend. He had two quarterback hits, one of which was a strip sack of Alex Smith in the third quarter that played a big part in erasing a 28-point deficit.

Mathis had a league-leading eight forced fumbles during the regular season. He has 48 for his career, which tops the charts since he entered the NFL as a fifth-round pick of the Colts out of Alabama A&M in 2003.

"I can't really run away from him, so that option's out the door," Brady joked of what it's like to see Mathis closing in on him. "You have to understand where he's at. He really has a sense of urgency. It's one thing to sack the quarterback. It's another thing to strip-sack him and the ball's flying all over the place. You have eliminate those types of plays.

"They've had a lot of those types of plays this year which have been a big benefit to their team where he runs the edge, the quarterback's standing back there, here he comes and strip-sacks him. We just really can't let that happen."

Brady was sacked 40 times this season and led the Patriots with nine fumbles, losing three. He ranks second among active players with 89 fumbles, two behind Michael Vick.